UPDATE, Monday writethru with actuals: Warner Bros/DC’s Justice League assembled $185 million at the international box office in its debut session this weekend, $500K down from the Sunday estimate. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and friends were at play on about 46,660 screens in 65 markets, with China leading at a slightly improved $51.8M. Including domestic, the worldwide opening is $279M. While WB has the overseas launch ahead of Wonder Woman in like-for-like markets, the score is lower than the $200M-plus we were hearing amid pre-opening buzz.

Kicking off outside a holiday corridor was certainly a factor (Wonder Woman played in the summer and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was an Easter release), and even if audiences seem to like the movie better than critics, some markets in Europe were quite soft, notably Germany. There’s disappointment in not seeing see this one break $200M globally in its first frame, coming in about 16% below BvS, as this was set up as DC’s answer to The Avengers. One distribution exec points to the lack of Superman in the advertising, and notes, “What made BvS appealing was two superheroes squaring off, so this movie just feels like an Avengers B-team.”

Still, a $185M offshore opening is a sizable number and there were strong results out of certain areas, with social shout-outs for Wonder Woman and Aquaman, in particular. On 765 Imax screens, a $13.7M launch is the best November opening ever for the format.

In Asia, JL amassed $40.1M in 10 markets — not including China or Japan (the latter goes next week). The regional cume is the second-biggest opening for a WB film ever (behind BvS).

Latin America also pulled in strong numbers, coming in slightly higher than the Sunday estimate with $35.9M for the region to score the 3rd biggest launch ever for WB behind BVS and the final Harry Potter. In Brazil, JL‘s $14.2M (46.7M reals) start is the biggest industry opening weekend ever.

China and Brazil lead the Top 5 and are followed by Mexico ($9.6M/184.2M pesos), the UK ($9.5M/£7.3M) and Korea ($8.5M/9.6B won).

Marvel

As for the other heroes showing off their superpowers globally, Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok added a better-than-estimated $24.7M internationally in this fourth weekend. That Hulks up the overseas cume to $491.9M and has bested both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Doctor Strange. It’s tracking above those pics by 11% and 17%, respectively, and is the No. 6 Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever at the international box office. With $739.2M worldwide, it’s the ninth MCU title to cross $700M.

Elsewhere, Happy Death Day is on the doorstep of $100M globally for Universal and Blumhouse, while Fox’s Murder On The Orient Express will roll to that number internationally this week. Studiocanal/Heyday Films’ Paddington 2 has hit $22M after its second weekend in the UK; and Disney/Pixar’s Coco is on the verge of crossing $50M in Mexico alone.

Breakdowns and actuals on the films above and others have been updated below (we are waiting on Lionsgate, STX and the Paddington 2 weekend total).

NEWJUSTICE LEAGUE

Warner Bros.

With a $185M opening in 65 markets this session, Warner Bros/DC’s mash-up came in under the projections of several industry sources. That’s a nice number, but Justice League just couldn’t get up to the $200M mark which most saw it eclipsing as Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg all banded together on the big screen and after DC got some street cred back with this summer’s smash led by Gal Gadot’s Amazonian warrior.

JL did top WW’s opening in like-for-like markets, and as with domestic, audiences overseas are reacting with more positive notes than critics (in France the public gives it four stars, but critics give it two).

JL will have some relatively clear play in its demo over the next few weeks until Star Wars: The Last Jedi speeds in, and therefore could be looking at lower drops than the typically frontloaded genre. It will not benefit from the Thanksgiving holiday that’s up this week domestically. JL’s lack of a holiday, which can boost fortunes by as much as 25%, is in direct contrast to BVS’ Easter 2016 international release which was off the charts. The Zack Snyder-directed JL is about 16% below that movie in today’s dollars, but there was hope for a much tighter spread and that hope began to fizzle as the weekend numbers started rolling in from offshore. Japan opens this week.

With a reported production cost of $300M, the total with P&A is around the $450M mark. As my colleague Anthony D’Alessandro points out, if the film clears $700M-$750M global, after ancillaries, it will turn a profit, but not much.

Moving past the doom and gloom, the pic, which has more humor than BVS and saw Joss Whedon come in for Snyder after the director had to step away due to an unfortunate tragedy, scored $13.7M on 765 IMAX screens to rank as the format’s best-ever November opening overseas. In China, that numbers was $6.15M on 453 to land the 2nd best November FSS after Doctor Strange.

The superheroes are the No. 1 U.S. film in each of their bows and saw particularly strong play in Asia and Latin America. Brazil set a record for the biggest opening weekend ever for any movie at $14.2M (46.7M reals). DC superheroes generally over-index in Latin America and this weekend the Justice League gang recruit $35.9M in the region to land the 3rd highest opening session for a WB film behind BVS and the last Harry Potter movie.

WB

In Asia, the regional take is $40.1M for the 2nd best ever studio bow behind BVS. That figure does not include China where JL made $51.8M (RMB 343.8M) pretty much exactly where we saw this going in. It played on 20,600 screens and took 65% of the Top 5 films to rank as the runner-up to BVS in terms of Middle Kingdom WB bows.

The UK was softer than expected, with $9.5M (£7.3M) on 1,648 screens with 40% of the Top 5 movies. WB has it topping Thor: Ragnarok, but that would only be over the weekend days since Thor opened to more than $15M in its first frame, which began on a Tuesday. JL topped Wonder Woman by 51% from June.

Mexico is at $9.6M (184.2M pesos) on 3,615 screens, with a 64% share of the Top 5 and besting Wonder Woman by about 20%.

Korea, which is not nuts for DC as a general rule, did $8.5M with 56% of the Top 5 films on 1,315 screens.

At the bottom of the pack of majors are Italy with $3.6M and double Wonder Woman; Spain with $3.1M for the 2nd biggest WB opening of the year; and Germany with a really rough $3M on 936 screens.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONSTHOR: RAGNAROK

Disney/Marvel

Disney/Marvel’s threequel is rocking and rolling along at the international box office with another $24.7M this session and a $491.4M cume. The Norse charmer has now overtaken both Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 and Doctor Strange overseas and is leading them by 11% and 17%, respectively. It’s now the No. 6 Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever. With $739.2M worldwide, it’s the 9th MCU title to cross $700M.

Globally this weekend, the son of Odin topped Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714M) and Doctor Strange ($678M). He now fronts the MCU’s No. 8 release of all time worldwide.

Holds were strong in many markets and despite the arrival of the DC rivals. Notables include the Czech Republic (-32%), Venezuela (-35%), Japan (-39%), Denmark (-42%), Germany (-42%), Peru (-43%) and South Africa (-44%).

In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the Taika Waititi-helmed romp is north of $145M to exceed the lifetimes of Spiderman: Homecoming and Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the area.

After a terrific wide opening last weekend, Fox’s Agatha Christie adaptation rolled out of its second frame with another $20.7M in 56 markets. That’s a 65% drop from last week, although the international cume is now $96.5M, setting the stylish Kenneth Branagh mystery on track to pass $100M this week. The worldwide take so far is $148.2M.

China led markets again, although with Justice League taking up a lot of real estate, MOTOE fell to No. 3 (ahead of Thor’s 3rd session) and a local cume of $30.2M. In Russia, the ensemble added $3.2M at No. 2 for an $11.2M cume; followed by the UK with $3M and a $23.1M cume after three weeks. It ranked No. 3 behind Justice League and Paddington 2 and has amassed 13% more there than the lifetime of The Great Gatsby.

Germany, where the Justice League folks could barely get arrested, saw just a 12% dip for a $5.6M cume and Australia fell 29% for a $6.3M running total.

Overall, Orient Express is outpacing The Great Gatsby (+48%) and Gone Girl (+98%) in the same bucket of markets at current exchange rates. Next weekend, 11 new markets hop aboard.

PADDINGTON 2

Heyday Films

Paddington 2, the Paul King-directed sequel to 2014’s global smash, has now grossed $22M at home in the UK, while holds are looking warm and fuzzy in such markets as Sweden, Finland and Italy. We will have a full breakdown on this one tomorrow, but in the meantime, the UK info from Studocanal has this weekend at £6.36M ($8.4M) and a cume of £16.6M ($22M). The previous film, which made $268M worldwide, finaled at £37.9M in Britain.

Along with the box office success, this was a big week for the bear from darkest Peru as he found a domestic home with Warner Bros, and away from the embattled Weinstein Co. Deadline broke the news on Wednesday that the studio, which is also the home of producer David Heyman, was acquiring domestic rights, emerging from a bidding war that reached $30M. Now WB needs to get in gear for a January 12 release date.

HAPPY DEATH DAY

Universal Pictures

Celebrating getting thisclose to $100M worldwide, Universal and Blumhouse’s Happy Death Day added $7.9M in 52 markets this session. The overseas total is $43.5M and with domestic, there are $98.9M in the global coffer. France had a good start at No. 2 with $1.6M. Germany also bowed this week, with $1.3M. German- and French-speaking Switzerland are off to a $270K debut and Austria opened at No. with $148K.

Korea was the top holdover with a terrific $7.5M total to suffocate the lifetime of Don’t Breathe. Italy also is holding nicely with $731K at No. 3 and $2.2M to date. Spain’s got $1.9M so far. Next weekend adds three out of the final six markets to go.

A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS

STXfilms

With no new markets, Mila Kunis & co slipped another $5.1M into their stockings for an overseas cume of $26.6M and a worldwide gross of $77.5M. Germany dipped by 22% to take the two-frame total to $4.6M. It’s running 20% behind Bad Moms, 158% ahead of Horrible Bosses 2, 7% ahead of Neighbors 2 and 92% ahead of Office Christmas Party.

In the UK, the Moms dropped 37% for a total $7.7M to date, on par with Bad Moms, 48% ahead of Horrible Bosses 2, 5% ahead of Neighbors 2 and 104% ahead of Office Christmas Party.

Australia/NZ added an estimated $874K to lift the running total to $6.8M. That’s 21% behind Bad Moms, but tops all other comps. Scandinavia is also outperforming the comedy sequel comps save for the first Bad Moms. With a $2.3M cume, it’s 7% behind that pic.

Eastern Europe is looking at $2.09M, which is 48% ahead of the original, and also above the other comparable titles. The Middle East, France, Russia, Spain and more are still on deck for the STX pic in the coming weeks.

JIGSAW
Lionsgate’s 8th installment in the horror franchise crossed the $50M international mark this frame, after four weeks in release. The film carved out another $4.1M in 74 markets and has grossed $52.4M so far. The top plays are the UK ($6.5M), Russia ($5.1M), Venezuela ($4.9M), Germany ($4.9M) and France ($3.6M). The next majors to release are Spain and Brazil on Thursday this week.

COCO

Disney

Disney/Pixar’s Coco became the No. 1 movie ever (in local currency) at the Mexican box office last week, and enjoyed another good weekend this session — its 4th. The animated Day of the Dead-themed pic strummed up another $4M in the frame and has lifted the cume to $48.8M.

Directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, the film opens in the U.S. on November 22, kicking off an extended global rollout. Next weekend notably includes China and Russia. France and Germany join at the end of the month and there are releases throughout January (with Japan taking the Frozen Japan slot in March).